England humbled by Australia at Old Trafford

The 5th NatWest Series match at Old Trafford turned out to be a historical encounter, in more ways than one, for England. Blasted out by Australia for a petty 86 runs, lowest in their one-day cricket history and the 9th successive ODI loss. Caught batting second, in seaming, swinging and humid conditions, it was the worst and possibly the most humiliating defeat England has suffered in recent times.

England faced a revised target of 212 runs in 44 overs after a rain interruption but to the horror of the cricket world, no batsman displayed the courage to face Australia's devastating bowling attack. I have never before seen England batsmen show such signs of nervousness and uncertainty. Sadly, the lack of confidence and fighting spirit made them look like a bunch of schoolboys facing the World Champions and capitulating by 125 runs was the obvious outcome.

Steve Waugh drives a ball through the covers Photo © AFP

England, having lost 3 matches in a row and struggling to record their first win of the tournament did start well this afternoon. By dint of a devastating attack against archrivals Australia, the England bowlers bundled out 3 of the Aussie top batsmen for only 27 runs.

Opener Mathew Hayden, trying a big hit rather too early in the game was caught at square leg for a duck followed by Adam Gilchrist (5) and Ricky Ponting (21) also offering easy catches. Andy Caddick claimed 2 victims in a spell of 5 overs. When Australia were 35 for 3 rain interrupted play.

The shower seemed to have turned the Australians into an aggressive mood. Steve Waugh and Michael Bevan, started playing hot and crisp shots to the fence rather too often. Conceding 21 runs in 3 overs Dominic Cork was punished severely. With this boost up in the run rate, the Aussies were 83 for 3 after 20 overs.

England achieved the 4th success when Michael Bevan departed after scoring an invaluable 37. He snicked a ball from Alan Mullally that had cut off the seam, into skipper Stewart's safe gloves. Australia was now 4 down for 93.

Damien Martyn driving a ball Photo © AFP

Steve Waugh played a captain's innings reaching his 50 in 33 overs but was unlucky to be trapped lbw by Gough for an impressive 64. With Damien Martyn at the other end, the Aussies played a more sedate game with the result the 5th wicket fell at 161 after 40 overs. Now the ball was in England's court and to get to a competitive total, Australia needed to accelerate.

Desperate to pile up quick runs against tight and accurate bowling, Australia started losing wickets. While Martyn hoisted his defiant 50, new comers Andrew Symonds and Ian Harvey threw away their wickets, bringing Australia down to 189 for 7.

When the score was at 208 for 7 in 48 overs a heavy shower stopped play again. To cover the time loss, the umpires declared the Australian innings ended and went into a conference to calculate the victory target for England under the Duckworth-Lewis method.

To the bewilderment of many cricket fans the target was announced as 212 runs to be scored in 44 overs. Many questioned why a team batting second was disadvantaged and needed to score more runs in lesser number of overs. That's the agreed playing condition and application of the D/L method.

England commenced under tremendous pressure on various counts. First, the calculation of runs for victory was in no way favorable to them. Second, the atmosphere had turned heavy after the rain and very favorable to bowlers. Third, the pitch had been seaming with lots of high bounce and lastly, facing a very aggressive field placing by Australia. They played with 4 slips and 2 gullies plus the wicket keeper making it a cordon of 7 players behind the stumps. Naturally, this strategy added to the discomfort of the England batsmen.

Jason Gillespie celebrates taking the wicket of Michael Vaughan Photo © AFP

Frustration was evident from the way England started. It was the unique tale of a procession starting from the very beginning. Nick Knight (12) left at the total score of 25 followed by both Michael Vaughan and Alec Stewart at 26, Owais Shah, Trescothick and Hollioake at 40. England was thus 6 down for only 40 runs on the board. Jason Gillespie and Glen McGrath completed their quota of 9 overs each with 3 for 20 and 2 for 19 respectively.

The remaining batting line was left to the mercy of Shane Warne and company, Dominic Cork was the 7th batsman to head for the pavilion after scoring 17 aggressive runs, the highest of the innings. Collingwood (9) and Gough (2) promptly followed, rendering England to 69 for 9.

A humiliating defeat for England was written on the wall and finally came when last man Alan Mullally wilted under pressure and England all out for 86. Demolishing the lower order, Warne and Symonds clinched 2 wickets each.

After this humbling loss by 125 runs, the remaining round robin games have become somewhat meaningless. England cricket management will need to do some homework to get back to winning ways in one-day cricket.